Privacy policy

Who we are

This website is operated on behalf of Dr Walid Aly, Specialist Anaesthetist (“we”, “us”, “the practice”). This policy explains how we handle personal information collected through drwalidaly.com.au and through enquiries made using the contact details on this website. It is written to align with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Health Privacy Principles in the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).

What we collect through this website

General enquiry form. Your name, email address, an optional phone number, the type of enquiry and a short message.

Referral enquiry form (for practices and facilities). The practice or facility name, a contact person, their email address and phone number, preferred dates, expected list length and optional notes about the list. This form must not be used for patient names or any patient information.

Please don’t include medical details in either form. If you choose to include health information, it will be handled as sensitive information under this policy.

Technical information. Like most websites, our hosting provider automatically records basic technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested, in server logs used to keep the website secure and working.

Spam and abuse protection. When you open the contact page, your browser requests a short-lived security token that records only the time it was issued. To limit repeated submissions, the website keeps a counter of recent submissions for up to one hour, filed under a one-way encrypted code (hash) of your IP address. The counter holds only submission times, never your name, contact details or message, and is deleted automatically.

What we do not collect

• No advertising or tracking pixels. This website does not use advertising pixels, remarketing tags, social media tracking or analytics. None will ever be placed on pages that give clinical or health information.
• No tracking cookies. The website does not set cookies to track you.
• No payments. The website never asks for payment or card details.
• No stored enquiries on the website. Enquiries are sent by email to the practice and are not stored on the web server.

If analytics are ever proposed for non-clinical pages, this policy will be updated before they are used.

Anonymity

You can ask general questions without giving your full name, for example by phone. We will need contact details to reply to you, and we cannot provide or arrange care anonymously.

Why we collect it

We use the information you send us to:

• respond to your enquiry
• discuss or arrange anaesthetic care or a list, if that is what you have asked about
• keep the website secure and working.

We do not use your information for direct marketing unless you have specifically agreed to it, and we never sell personal information.

Health information

If you become a patient, health information about you is collected, used and stored as part of your care. It is collected with your consent, used for your care and for related purposes you would reasonably expect, and disclosed to other health professionals involved in your care only as permitted by law. Detailed health information is collected through secure channels agreed with you or your treating practice, not through this website.

Your anaesthetic record is usually kept with your medical record at the hospital, day surgery or practice where you had your procedure. You can ask that facility for access to it.

Who we may disclose information to

We may disclose personal information to:

• staff or contractors who help run the practice, under confidentiality obligations
• other health professionals involved in your care, with your consent or as permitted by law
• our IT, email and website hosting providers, so they can deliver their services
• anyone else where the law requires or allows it.

This website is hosted on servers in North America, which keep the technical server logs described above. Other service providers may also store information outside Australia. Before using such a provider, we take reasonable steps to ensure it handles information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

How we protect information

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. The website is served over an encrypted connection, the enquiry forms do not store messages on the web server, and enquiries are delivered to the practice’s business email account. We keep information only for as long as it is needed or the law requires, including the retention periods for health records under Victorian law.

If a data breach is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify the people affected and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

Accessing or correcting your information

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it. Please contact us using the details on the contact page. We may need to confirm your identity first. We aim to respond within 30 days. If we cannot give you access, we will explain why.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how your personal information has been handled, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or the Victorian Health Complaints Commissioner.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated.